


Girl Meets Break Up

by AnxiousBich



Category: Girl Meets World
Genre: Can be read as slash, Dealing With Divorce, Divorce, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Major Hive Five Friendship Moments, Maya (Understandably) Overreacts, Unconventional discussion of divorce, lots of hugs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-06
Updated: 2015-12-06
Packaged: 2018-05-05 06:19:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,971
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5364662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnxiousBich/pseuds/AnxiousBich
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's the first day of high school and the gang is excited for the new chapter in their life, but their first day takes an immediate turn for the worst when Farkle shows up in a funk. What will the gang do? Will they fall apart or become stronger than ever? What will happen next?</p>
<p>But the real question is, what's up with Farkle?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Girl Meets Break Up

**Author's Note:**

> AO3 really does not like indents for some reason so, sorry about that, and the textbox was surprisingly difficult to navigate, so if there is any error you might notice in formatting please let me know :)
> 
> I'm totally down with criticism for my poop writing, but please don't get ANGRY at me. I don't believe I've necessarily done anything that should piss anyone off but I've seen a lot of aggressive behavior in the fandom and I want to be cautious. 
> 
> Girl Meets World belongs to its respective owners.  
> Unbetaed, so any mistakes are totally my own. Probably a major overuse of commas, but there you go.
> 
> Edit: I fixed some stuff but it's basically the same. I also updated the tags a lil.

James Madison high school glimmers in the sunshine, tall and bustling with students; From excited fresh faced Freshman to disillusioned Seniors ready to finish their final year, and everyone in between. The newly made high schoolers look on at the school in trepidation, the building looking far larger in comparison to the small middle schools that had once looked larger than life. It was intimidating, this new world of rigorous workloads, teenage drama, and puberty. Many would crumble in the face of such hurtles.

But not Riley Matthews.

Maya sighs in exasperation, slamming her new neon yellow locker closed loudly. The senior beside her flinches and shoots her a glare before slamming his own locker and hurrying off to his friends. Her best friend, Riley, is revealed. Riley’s grin is wide and slightly frightening. If puppies and kittens could be frightening. She appears to be vibrating in place. A scientific feat, Maya is pretty sure.

“Riles,” Maya groans, placing two grounding hands firmly on her friend’s shoulders, “You need to calm down or you’ll vibrate right out of those little blue boots a’yours.”

“It’s our first day of high school!” Riley proclaims, bouncing excitedly on the balls of her feet, her flowery dress swirling around her in her enthusiasm. 

Maya plasters a sarcastic smile on her face, patting Riley lightly on the cheek, “Yes, Riley,” she agrees. “I know, and these are lockers and those are stairs. Very good.”

“Maya,” Riley replies, gripping Maya’s elbows, expression serious but eyes sparkling “We are in school,” a grin breaks her mock serious face, “but high!”

Maya grimaces at her friend’s poor choice of words, head slumping in defeat in the face of Riley’s innocence. “Oh Pumpkin, please don’t say that too loudly,” she advises firmly before turning and heading towards their first class, World History. Of course.

“Okay, Peaches,” Riley agrees easily, following after the blonde. Maya tilts her head down, hiding her smile.

Maya won’t admit it, but she can’t help finding herself feeling just as intimidated as the rest of the Freshman flock. The walls are unfamiliar, stained in some areas and painted a pale blue, clashing terribly with the loudly colored lockers lining the walls. The truth is, it’s nice as far as schools go, if a little dirty compared to John Quincy Adams Middle, but nice enough, and the staff that she’s seen seem open and genuine. But nonetheless, there’s a sense of foreboding filling her. Of dread. A feeling that this is the beginning of the end.

“Ah, History class,” Maya sighs, approaching room 243, patting the dark grey door frame of the room affectionately, “The only class I ever seem to remember anything from.”

“Well,” Riley declares proudly, placing a hand exaggeratedly on her chest, “That’s because you had such a great teacher, but NOW we’ll get to experience someone new!”

Maya chuckles, sending Riley a smirk, leaning against the door frame, “Whatever you say, Hon.” Riley appears confused but steps into the classroom ahead of Maya, eyeing the blonde suspiciously. Maya smiles and mouths ‘now’ to herself, followed by a chorus of “nooooooos” from within the classroom.

“There it is,” Maya says grinning with satisfaction and finally steps into her new classroom to find Riley frozen, finger pointed at the bewildered Mr. Matthews, expression horrified and mouth hanging open. Maya shimmies her way between Riley and the large wooden teacher’s desk, her heels clicking lightly as she goes. She pulls her phone out of her black jeans, holds it up, and the bright flash finally knocks Riley out of her paralysis.

“Oh yeah,” Maya mumbles to herself, expression positively gleeful, “This is the new wallpaper for the year.”

“Dad what are you doing here!?” Riley cries, clearly confused and outraged, when only that morning her father had agreed that he wouldn’t be showing his face at Riley’s school.

“Uh, well a few days ago I was called in to cover for Mrs. Tilly because she went into labor and they were short staffed,” Mr. Matthews explains simply. He looks between them, crossing his arms over his chest, a deep crease between his brows. “That makes sense, right?” Maya shrugs and nods.

“But-But-But!” Riley stutters out, attempting to find the right words to express her bafflement.

“A way with words, this one, eh Curly?” Maya teases with a fond smile. Cory grimaces at the nickname.

“But don’t you have a class you should be teaching at the middle school?” Riley asks, trying to grasp at some kind of understanding while images of a year of new experiences, without a father for a teacher, rapidly disintegrate before her eyes.

“You know, you’d be surprised how easy it is to find a replacement for a middle school teacher,” Cory says with a chuckle, “Nobody wants to teach teenagers with their… hormones and their… angst.” Cory’s face rapidly crumbles, a look of regret passing over his face. “Oye.”

“That is the look of a man who has realized what a dope he’s been,” Maya points out, shaking her head in exaggerated sympathy, curls bouncing, patting him on the shoulder.

“Dad!” Riley calls attempting to get her father’s attention, but he is nodding his head solemnly.

“It really is,” Cory admits, then squints, taking notice of the veiled insult, “Hey!”

“Maya!” Riley calls to her friend, who snaps another photo, blinding Cory momentarily.

“This is a great day,” Maya tells her phone with glee.

“Maya! How did you know my dad would be here?” Riley demands when she finally has her friend’s attention, stomping her foot lightly in frustration.

“Oh, I overheard him on the phone the last time I slept over,” she explains, eyes glued to her phone, her fingers flying over the touch screen.

“Dad, why didn’t you tell me?” Riley turns to her father, eyes slightly hurt. Cory opens his mouth to defend himself.

“Because I told him not to and he’s afraid of me,” Maya interrupts, finally returning her phone to her back pocket.

“I am not afraid of a little girl!” Cory defends himself.

“Yes you are,” Maya counters, crossing her arms and keeping her eyes on Riley.

“I really am,” Cory admits, hanging his head in defeat.

“And I only get worse with age,” she says, shooting her teacher a sweet smile.

Cory looks obviously horrified, walking behind the safe barrier of his new desk, mumbling under his breathe about teenagers and their “scary hormones and teenage angst.”

Riley looks ready to scold Maya for not telling her, but Maya simply grabs the brunette’s shoulders and twirls her around. Riley’s face breaks out into a grin.

“Lucas!” she squeals, throwing herself at her male friend, hugging him tightly. Lucas laughs and catches Riley easily.

“Hey guys,” he greets, making no move to remove Riley from around him. Maya walks up to Lucas slowly with an air of nonchalance. “Maya.”

“Ranger Rick,” Maya replies casually, making a point of staring at her nails as if uninterested.

“Maya,” he says again with a smile, removing one arm from around Riley, holding it open in an obvious offer. Maya can’t help the smile that breaks out across her face. She strides the rest of the way forward confidently, wrapping her arms around Riley and Lucas tightly. Riley is absolutely glowing from where her face is pressed against Lucas’ chest.

The reunion is rudely interrupted by Mr. Matthews shoving his hand in the minimal space between Lucas and Riley with a “Ba ba bah.”

Maya chuckles at Riley and Lucas’ embarrassment but releases Lucas when Riley finally disentangles herself from the Texan. 

“Uh hello, sir,” Lucas greets Mr. Matthews politely, nervousness tingeing his voice, and a confused tilt to his brow. He not so subtly glances at his schedule, noting the teacher’s name was definitely not “Matthews, C.”

Maya slips into the front desk, reminiscent of their old seats, with Riley slipping into the seat directly to her best friend’s right and Lucas taking the seat behind Maya. Riley immediately spins around, throwing out question after question about Lucas and Zay's summer long trip to Texas while Maya drops in a witty quip and taunt every once in a while. 

A few minutes before class, students begin to fill in, finding seats, many of whom are turned away by Lucas when they attempt to take the seat directly to his right or behind him. His responses ranging from polite to mildly aggressive, based on the person’s willingness to go away. The blonde breaks out into a grin, eyes glued to the front of the classroom. Riley and Maya face the front of the class curiously, finding a much taller, buffer Zay standing in the doorway.

“Yes, yes, I know,” he says, holding his palms up as if to quiet down his many fans, “I am awesome.” He drops his persona and grins at his friends. Maya and Riley walk up to him, hugging him tightly.

“Well,” Maya comments when she pulls away from the hug, looking the now much taller boy up and down, “Puberty has certainly punched you in the face, Mr. Babineaux.”

“I know you meant that as a compliment… I think, so I’m just gonna say thanks,” Zay replies with a shrug, then promptly leans into Lucas’ arms, hugging his friend back with a slap on the back.

Zay quickly takes his seat behind Lucas while Maya and Riley take their own seats, continuing their conversation about Zay and Lucas’ adventures in Texas. Lucas glances at the empty seat beside him, brows furrowing in worry. He looks at his watch just as the warning bell sounds shrilly, telling the slackers to hurry to class.

“Has anyone heard from Farkle?” Riley asks, voicing Lucas’ own thoughts, staring at Farkle’s empty seat in concern. She would usually just assume he got into a higher level class, but she can’t really forget Farkle excitedly showing up at her window, yelling his victory, brandishing his own schedule which showed that they shared homeroom.

Mr. Matthews stands to greet his class, anticipating the last bell. He blinks in surprise when Farkle comes speed walking through the door, mumbling a few ‘sorry’s as he goes, the late bell ringing only a moment later. He quickly slips into his seat beside Lucas and unashamedly scoots his desk closer to Lucas, the furniture rattling obnoxiously as he does so. His sense of style has changed over the last two years, ranging from more modern looks to occasionally returning to his roots and donning his turtle neck and shirt combo. However, today his outfit is disturbingly comparable to his “Donnie Barnes” days. He adjusts his beanie uncomfortably, pulling it low over his head, and sinking lower in his seat.

Ever since Riley and Maya were finally able to get passed their issues with Lucas and just hang out as a group of friends without an impending drama looming overhead, Farkle seemed to get some of his more goofy spirit back. However, old habits were rearing their head today. Farkle was known to do this when emotions mixed with deep analysis ran rampant through his head. It happened a lot their eighth grade year.

Funny enough, Maya was the one to point out this particular habit.

Farkle’s friends looked at him with concern, greeting him even with the thick tension in the air. Farkle attempted to return their greetings, but his smile is strained and it only serves to deepen his friends’ concerns.

Mr. Matthews shoots Farkle worried looks but begins his class as scheduled. His curriculum is slightly more restrained due to high school policies, however he speeds through the required syllabus and spends most of the class getting the students comfortable with him and each other, introducing himself and his usual teaching method, and at one mortifying point, his daughter.

Farkle was silent throughout nearly the entire class, only answering questions when asked in a monotonous tone, his mind clearly elsewhere. The students stand to leave when the bell rings but before Farkle can leave, Mr. Matthews calls him back. Farkle’s vacant eyes seem to clear slightly when faced with one on one time with Mr. Matthews and he watches his friends hesitate, but nonetheless, scurry out of the room.

“Yes, sir?” Farkle asks, adjusting the strap of his book bag, holding himself unusually still.

“Farkle,” Mr. Matthew begins, voice full of concern, leaning his hip against the hardwood desk, “are you okay?”

“Of course, sir,” he replies easily, that tense smile returning to his face.

“Farkle…, you know you can always come to me if there’s something wrong, right?” he asks, placing a hand on Farkle’s shoulder in a comforting gesture. 

“Of course, sir,” he repeats.

Mr. Matthew sighs and removes his hand. “Okay, but please, if something is bothering you, talk to someone,” he pleads, then chuckles softly, “I know there are already a couple of volunteers waiting to listen.” Mr. Matthews glances over his shoulder, towards the door. Farkle follows Mr. Matthew’s line of sight and spots two blonde and two brunette heads poking out from behind the door frame, eyes wide and innocent.

Farkle gives his first real, though small, smile that day. “I know sir,” he agrees, “thank you, sir.”

“Have a good first day,” Mr. Matthew says to Farkle’s retreating form.

“You too, sir,” Farkle replies over his shoulder, walking out of the room and into the hallway, where he is immediately surrounded by his friends. To an outsider it might look like they were ready to beat him up.

Farkle gives a weak smile and small uncomfortable wave, “Hey guys,” he greets for the second time that day. They stand there in silence and Maya is sure that Riley is ready to explode at this point, but finally the moment is broken when Lucas wraps his arms around Farkle, hugging him close, and actually going as far as to lift him into the air. Farkle yelps and chokes out a breath, feeling all the air in his body being squeezed out. It’s a short lived discomfort before Lucas is setting him down and hugging him with a more reasonable amount of strength to it.

Farkle is thrown by the change, but melts into the hug regardless, returning it enthusiastically. It didn’t have the “manly” hug and pat aspect that Zay and Lucas’ earlier hug displayed, it was more drawn out and seemed borderline intimate. Lucas doesn’t let go until he begins to feel some of the tension in Farkle’s shoulders lessen.

“Missed you too,” Farkle mumbles into Lucas’ shoulder, a smile pulling at his face.

Riley immediately goes in for a hug when Lucas finally steps back. Maya follows suit without even pretending to put up a fight, squeezing the two brunettes tightly. The trio yelps in terror when they’re feet leave the ground a few seconds later.

“Really what is with the lifting?” Maya huffs, pushing her hair out of her face with a flick, shooting an accusatory glare at Zay.

“Lucas made it seem cool,” Zay answers with a shrug, “Plus, I gotta find some benefit for all that farm work I did with Lucas’ gramps and all those growing pains.”

“Yes, lifting teenagers, what a life fulfilled,” Maya mocks.

“You torture people, I lift people,” Zay points out, “We all have our hobbies.”

“’Do you even lift, bro?’” Riley whispers to herself and promptly starts giggling.

“I’m taking the internet away from you,” Maya declares, pointing at Riley to solidify her statement.

“But I like the internet!” Riley whines, shooting Maya the puppy dog eyes.

“Alright alright, 1 hour a day with supervision,” Maya amends when Riley doesn’t back down.

“Yay!” Riley throws her arms around Maya, hugging her close.

“Yeah yeah yeah,” Maya grumbles, but merely wraps her arm around Riley’s waist, pulling her tightly to her.

Lucas is watching Farkle’s face closely throughout the interaction. He appears to be far more relaxed, with a pleasant smile on his face. A stark contrast to the distant moody demeanor he'd displayed for the last hour. Lucas throws an arm around Farkle’s shoulder.

“You doing better there, buddy?” Lucas whispers so the others don’t divert their attention to him.

Farkle easily leans his body weight against Lucas’ warmth. He looks at the blonde for a moment then back at his bickering friends and smiles a little wider. It's a relief but Lucas hasn’t let his guard down quite yet.

“Yeah, I think so.”

“Good,” Lucas mumbles, still unable to fully relax. “You wanna talk about it?” he asks, voice still low.

Farkle shoots Lucas a more forced smile, “Really, Lucas, I’m fine,” he assures his best friend. He glances down at his watch. “But I need to get to my AP Statistics class,” he says, slipping out from under Lucas’ arm.

The four friends watch Farkle walk away, Riley waving at his disappearing form.

“Something is up with Farkle,” Maya states bluntly, not taking her eyes off the last spot she had caught a glimpse of her odd friend.

“Yep,” Lucas agrees, staring at the same spot.

“We doing something about it?” Zay asks, crossing his arms over his chest, glancing quickly among the crowd, mentally pinpointing the most attractive people.

“Oh yeah,” Riley answers.

*-*

Riley attempts to move through the day with her unwavering enthusiasm fully intact, but even Riley ‘Sunshine and Rainbows’ Matthews couldn’t stay bright in the face of the terrifying world of high school. Particularly when faced with so many classes alone, without her friends at her side. Riley clings desperately to Maya in their shared algebra class. However, any attempt to vent her woes is thwarted when Riley realizes each time she looks at the board she is a little more confused than the last time. Maya groans when Riley spends more than five minutes diligently writing notes in her notebook. She attempts to get the brunette’s attention, poking at her side and throwing wads of paper at her, but her jabs are pointedly ignored. 

Maya gives up and, to Riley’s great excitement, pulls a blank notebook from Riley’s bag. Riley’s full attention is now on Maya, watching in rapt fascination while Maya very slowly lowers the tip of her pen to the paper, Riley leaning a little closer for every millimeter that disappears between the pen and paper.

Maya writes a six at the top of her blank page, Riley dances a little in her seat, and she leans over to wrap her arms around Maya.

“Yay” she whispers excitedly, Maya rolls her eyes and laughs softly. Riley grins and pulls her attention back to her notes to avoid getting lost again.

In Spanish, Riley immediately claims the empty seat beside Zay, who seems all too happy to be Riley’s security blanket. They spend most of the class talking about their day so far, mostly about how completely confusing the buildings are and about the teachers they’ve met. Zay also spends a good portion cracking jokes that the teacher takes in good humor.

Lucas shares an English class with Maya, but otherwise shares no other classes with his friends. Maya ends up sharing art class with Zay, she counts herself lucky to have the most classes with at least one of her friends, even if she’d never say it. However, no one has seen hide nor hair of Farkle and it's making them all tense, even when they aren’t talking about it.

Riley taps her foot impatiently, standing at the spot that they had agreed to meet at, the bottom of the stairs at the front of the school, vibrating in place for an entirely different reason. Maya hops down the last step, smiling brightly, followed by Zay and Lucas.

“Farkle texted me he’s not going to be able to meet up,” Lucas proclaims as soon as he’s within hearing distance of Riley.

“Bay window. Now!” Riley declares as soon as Maya shows up, looping her arm in Maya’s, pulling her down the sidewalk towards the train station.

“Oh no,” Zay mumbles, following after the two girls.

The foursome are mostly quiet on the way to Riley’s apartment, except for Zay cracking joke after joke, with only Maya shooting back her own quips, hoping to make their more Sunshiney friends a little less stressed. They only get a few laughs from the duo but they count it as a win.

When the group reaches the entrance, Lucas immediately makes a sharp right and heads for the latter to the fire escape. Zay grabs his arm.

“Man, are you seriously going to go through the fire escape when they're opening the door for us?” he asks.

Lucas’ brows crease in thought before shrugging. He pulls his arm from Zay’s hold and heads for the ladder. Zay sighs and rolls his eyes, following Riley and Maya through the open door.

“Where did I go wrong?” he mumbles to himself.

“Aw, that’s a good Mr. Matthews impression,” Maya says, grinning brightly.

The moment they walk into the apartment, Maya and Riley head for Riley’s room, while Zay makes a B-line for the kitchen. They open the door only to find Lucas already perched on the Bay Window seat.

“You are ridiculous,” Maya sighs, shaking her head, stomping over to Lucas and sitting in her spot on the far left of the purple seat. Riley strides to her own spot on the far right of the purple seat.

“So… what are we going to do about, Farkle?” Lucas asks firmly, cutting right to the issue.

“Well that would be easier to figure out if we knew what was wrong,” Riley points out. Riley and Maya sigh, flick their hair over their shoulder, and cross their legs in a synchronized fashion.

“Maybe we should tie him up,” Maya declares.

“Seconded,” Zay agrees from where he’s standing in the doorway, taking a bite out the sandwich in his hand. “By the way, you’re out of bread,” Zay adds.

“Why do you always eat the last of our food?!” Riley cries out in exasperation.

Zay glances at the sandwich in his hand before taking another bite, “I make sure it doesn’t go bad,” he replies with a shrug. 

“Guys! Focus,” Lucas calls to them, “What do we do about Farkle?”

“I still stand by the ‘tie him up’ plan,” Maya states, raising her hand.

“Seconded,” Zay repeats.

“We can’t tie him,” Lucas argues, “We just need to talk to him.”

“Seconded,” Zay says through a mouth full of sandwich, “although he did tie you up that one time.”

“Okay, it’s clear we need to talk to him,” Riley agrees, slamming her fist into her hand, “but that doesn’t answer how we get him to talk to us.”

“Seconded,” Zay says again.

“Oh my God, would you stop saying that!” Maya yells in frustration, “Are you even worried?” The group gives Maya a surprised look, shocked by Maya’s accidental display of emotion. “Oh shut it,” she grumbles, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Look, you two have been here all summer,” Zay says, shoving the last of the bread crust into his mouth, swallowing it thickly, “Did anything happen?” Riley and Maya tap their chins with their index fingers, “hmm,” they hum simultaneously in thought. They frown deeply.

“It’s really creepy how you guys do that,” Zay tells them bluntly. They ignore the comment.

“Well, actually we didn’t see Farkle that much this summer,” Riley admits, only now seeming to realize that she could count their interactions on one hand over the past two months.

“Yeah, we saw him a few times,” Maya pipes in, “But every time we hung out with him, he’d mention a new trip he and his family were going on and he’d disappear for a week or two.”

“Yeah, but the last time we saw him was the other day and he seemed fine…, right?” Riley asks Maya, clearly attempting to analyze the last interaction they had with the genius.

“As fine as a Farkle can be,” Maya agrees.

“We’ll just have to sit here and come up with a game plan then,” Lucas says sternly. Riley nods firmly in agreement.

Three hours later, Cory barges into his daughter’s room to find her and her friends spread around the room, looking defeated. Maya and Riley are sitting on opposite sides of the Bay Window, socked feet propped up on Lucas’ lap, backs against the wall. Lucas is absent mindedly playing with a loose thread on Maya’s sock with one hand and resting his other on Riley’s ankle. Maya is lightly banging her head back against the wall over and over again. Zay is sprawled on his back on Riley’s bed and appears to be asleep.

“Uh… so have you made a plan about what to do about Farkle?” Cory asks the group, although he already has a good idea of what the answer will be. Zay shoots up out of bed abruptly.

“Birmingham 1861!” Zay cries out. The others shoot him looks ranging from confused and concerned to mildly frightened. 

“That’s not even a little bit right,” Cory states, shaking his head with a grimace.

“Yeah, well, not like I’d know,” Zay replies, leaning back on his hands, “Not like you ever got around to actually tellin’ us about it.”

“Wanna tell me what you’re doing on my daughter’s bed?” Cory asks, glaring deeply.

“Well, I guess I’ll be on my way,” Zay says, standing abruptly, “Miss Hart, Miss Matthews, Mr. Lucas.”

“Mr. Babineaux,” the trio respond in sync. Zay gives a small nod, faces Cory and runs forward, spinning on his tip toes, skillfully avoiding Mr. Matthew’s arms easily.

“I had a lovely time!” he yells, followed by a door slamming, the sound echoing through the halls. 

“Man, I should really take some ballet lessons,” Lucas muses.

“I would pay a lot of Riley’s cold hard money to see that,” Maya says.

“Oh yeah,” Cory turns his deep glare on Lucas, pointing a stiff finger at him, “You!” he growls. Maya and Riley promptly lift their feet out of Lucas’ lap, and the blonde heads for the window. Cory jerks towards the window, grabbing Lucas’ foot, and tugging. Lucas yanks his foot free, his shoe flying off, and Cory stumbles back.

“I wonder when he’ll just remember to take the basket with him,” Cory mumbles to himself, dropping the shoe in the pile of 7 shoes sitting in the wicker basket by Riley’s door.

“I don’t know, I think it adds a little something to the Feng Shui of the room,” Maya comments.

“Seconded,” Riley agrees.

*-*

“Lucas, Farkle wasn’t any better today,” Riley states the obvious, standing outside Topanga’s, “It’s been two days and he’s still acting weird, we can’t leave until we make a plan.”

“I’m worried too Riley,” Lucas says in agreement, nodding firmly, a look of determination on his face. The two nod at each other in solidarity and head towards the entrance of the shop, but stop abruptly when they see none other than Farkle sitting at his usual orange chair. He’s alone, hands clasped in front of him, that glazed look in his eyes again. Riley turns and quickly pushes Lucas back out before Farkle will notice them but it seems unlikely that he will. Farkle doesn’t even appear to know where he is. Riley boosts herself onto the bench to look through the high up window, watching Farkle closely. Lucas opens his mouth to argue that they shouldn’t eavesdrop but then realizes who he’s thinking of arguing with and boosts himself up beside Riley. The duo's eyes widen in shock, watching Maya striding over to Farkle, two smoothies in her hands.

Maya places one in front of the genius, causing his eyes to slowly focus, he turns a grateful smile to the blonde but doesn’t reach for the beverage. Maya plops down in the chair beside Farkle, tucking one leg underneath herself, her body tilted towards Farkle while she sips at her own strawberry banana smoothie. Farkle anxiously taps his thumbs against his knuckles as the awkward silence drags out, Maya staring holes into the side of Farkle’s head.

“Thanks for the smoothie, Maya,” Farkle finally says, picking up the cup and taking a small sip, clearly looking for something to do. Maya stays silent, still glaring at Farkle while she drinks her smoothie.

“You know I can tell that’s just an intimidation tactic,” Farkle points out, “the level of smoothie isn’t even going down.” Maya’s glare deepens, “Okay, I’m sorry but you’re freaking me out!” Farkle blurts out. Maya pulls the straw from her mouth and her smile is wide and evil. “Is it strange to find that frightening but still strangely attractive?” he asks bluntly.

Maya twirls her straw around in her cup for a few seconds, waiting for Farkle to let his guard down before punching him in the arm.

“Ow!” Farkle yelps, grabbing his arm in pain and scooting to the farthest part of the chair. It’s not much of a gap.

“Why won’t you tell us what’s wrong?” Maya asks bluntly, her face void of any faux emotions.

“Maya, listen-” he begins, an excuse ready on his tongue.

“No, Farkle!” Maya cuts him off, hearing the lie before it even leaves his mouth. Farkle clamps his mouth shut, looking slightly ashamed. “It’s only our second day of out freshman year and you already seem miserable,” she points out, Farkle stays silent. “Is someone bullying you? Because you know we would-”

“No, Maya,” Farkle cuts in now, shaking his head, “no one is bullying me.”

“Then what’s wrong?” she pleads again, sounding slightly desperate. “What could possibly be wrong that you can’t tell your best friends?” she asks, sounding hurt.

Farkle bit his lip, glancing around the shop, noticing the near empty surroundings. He takes note of whose working and finds Katy and Topanga missing. He’s sure Maya has asked them to clear out and he can’t help feeling grateful. He doesn’t think to check the window in his nervousness. 

“Maya, I just…,” Farkle began clenching his hands in his lap, “I don’t know who to talk to about this.”

“Your friends,” Maya says simply, boldly placing her hand on Farkle’s wrist in a comforting manner. “Farkle…, I want to protect you and I can’t do that if I don’t know what’s wrong,” she admits, then scowls, “And if you tell anyone I said that I’ll punch your face.”

Farkle can’t help the smile that spreads across his face, “No you won’t,” he shoots back confidently, turning his hand around and curling his fingers with Maya’s. Only a few weeks ago, Maya would have yanked her hand back and immediately proven her threat true but instead she rolled her eyes with a “whatever” and squeezes Farkle’s hand. For a minute, Farkle lets the feeling welling up inside him let him feel safe enough to think everything would be okay. But then he thinks logically and realizes that’s a little too optimistic when putting the factors together in his head. Regardless, he uses the warmth and weight in his palm and even the sting in his arm to ground him and give him courage.

“Maya, you know, for a long time now I’ve been doing a lot of… searching, inside myself,” Farkle says, the words sounding incredibly slow compared to his usual fast paced speech, actually needing to spend seconds at a time thinking over his words, “During that process, I’ve learned a lot about myself and about the real world and just emotions in general.”

Maya nods, a look of confusion creasing her face, but she stays unusually quiet, still gripping Farkle’s hand tightly. It feels as if, were she to let go or spoke, Farkle might just disappear before her eyes.

“Over the summer, I’ve been traveling with my parents all over Europe, like we usually do,” he goes on, “and it was great, like always. But while we were there, I noticed something I never really noticed before and suddenly this thought was planted in my head and it won’t go away. I don’t know what to do about it, because it makes me feel like a terrible person for thinking it. But the more I think about it and the more I think about the interactions my parents have had with each other, it starts making more and more sense.”

Maya can’t take it, “What Farkle? What did you realize?” she asks, unable to take the suspense. Her grip on Farkle’s hand is borderline painful, the nervous sweat building between their palms uncomfortable, but she is so sure that this is a conversation that Farkle will literally run away from, and she is afraid of what will happen if he does.

Farkle swallows thickly and for a minute he thinks he might be suffocating on his words, something like claustrophobia swallowing him up, but he swallows the words and tries again. He jiggles his leg nervously, gripping Maya’s hand just as tightly.

“I-” Maya leans in close, gripping the fabric of her jeans, “I don’t think my parents love each other and I think they should get a divorce,” Farkle rushes out, a gasp escaping him. Farkle didn’t realize how much the words had been clogging up his chest until he could suddenly breathe. Maya’s mouth is hanging open and unbeknownst to the two, so were Lucas’ and Riley’s, at the unexpected admission. Maya’s grip on his hand loosens, but Farkle is gripping her hand tightly, his eyes wide and desperate. “Maya, wait-” he tries to explain, knowing what was going to happen next, but Maya is yanking her hand from his grip and standing.

“How could you say that to me?” she asks, expression distraught.

“You wanted to know,” Farkle tries to argue, this was why he’d kept the information to himself, especially from Maya.

“How could you be so selfish?” she asks, Farkle flinches as if slapped, “You've get two amazing parents and what? Their marriage isn’t good enough for you? I spend most of my life with one parent who had to work her ass off so we could live in a dinky little apartment while I basically raised myself. You get two parents who are not only loaded but genuinely love you and want to be there for you and you have the gall to tell me that you realized you think they should get a divorce while on a family vacation in EUROPE!”

“This isn’t about them as parents!” Farkle breaks in, standing tall, attempting to get Maya to listen.

“For once in your life,” Maya sneers, “shut up, Farkle.” She turns and storms out. Farkle’s mouth hangs open, expression devastated, and heartbroken. Maya stomps out but stops just outside when she spots Lucas and Riley staring at her in shock. Maya’s bottom lip wobbles but she jerks her head forward again and continues to storm down the sidewalk.

Riley shares a look with Lucas, glances at where Maya once stood, then finally looks through the window again. She sees Farkle sitting again, his face in his hands, and his shoulders slumped. Riley bites her lip tightly, clearly torn but in a second she’s hopping down from the bench and following quickly after Maya. She pushes passed Zay as she goes, mumbling a quick apology. Zay looks around in confusion, noticing the tense atmosphere and the upset look on Lucas’ face.

“What did I miss?” he asks, frowning deeply. Lucas’ frown deepens and he looks through the window once again at Farkle and his vulnerable posture.

“Something big,” he admits to his friend, hopping off the bench and stepping towards the entrance. He takes a hesitant step into Topanga’s, trying to figure out what to do next.

“Seriously man, what’s going on?” Zay asks. Farkle’s head jerks up at the sound of Zay’s voice. His eyes get comically wide but his expression makes Lucas want to do anything but laugh. There are no tears on his face, but there’s something about him that makes Lucas think this might actually be the Farkle equivalent of crying and it’s awful. 

“Oh, hey guys,” Farkle greets, his face muscles do a few strange twitches, trying their damnedest to form a smile, but it just looks painful, “What’s up?”

“Farkle and Maya had a fight,” Lucas tells Zay, eyes still firmly on Farkle. Farkle quickly lowers his head in shame when he realizes that Lucas heard everything.

“And you’re alive?” Zay asks incredulously. Lucas lightly elbows Zay in the ribs.

“Dude, not the time,” Lucas whispers harshly. Zay’s brows crease in concern.

“Guys, you’re freaking me out,” Zay declared, moving to sit in the red square seat on Farkle’s left while Lucas occupies the seat Maya just left, “Farkle, what’s going on?”

Farkle stares at his clenched hands for a few long seconds then sits up straight, a strained smile on his face, “I told Maya what’s been bugging me and she got mad and told me I’m being selfish,” he states, voice falsely pleasant. “No big deal.” 

“Farkle,” Lucas says sadly.

“I’m fine, really guys,” Farkle tells his friends quickly, the robotic smile still in place, “Maya just hates me now and I’ll just never talk about my feelings again.”

“Man, Farkle,” Zay cuts in, still obviously confused, “If you were anyone else I’d think you were just being passive aggressive… but you’re being serious right now… What could you have possibly told Maya?”

The corner of Farkle’s smile wavers for a second but he keeps it in place, body unnaturally stiff and straight. However, he doesn’t open his mouth, instead looking at Lucas. Lucas stares back, trying to decipher the look being sent his way. He looks back at Zay after a contemplative moment.

“Farkle told Maya,” Lucas gave a small pause, allowing Farkle a moment to stop him if he wants to, but he stays unmoving and robotic, “that he doesn’t think his parents love each other and that he thinks they should get a divorce.”

Zay’s eyes widen and his mouth falls open, “O-oh,” Zay says, speechless for once. Farkle’s robotic smile is slipping quickly off his face. “Well…,” Zay tries again, “Dang, man.” Zay seems lost in thought for a second but then looks determined, he reaches over and places a supportive hand on Farkle’s knee. Farkle and Lucas look surprised by the immediate show of support. Farkle just expects scorn in general, but Lucas is surprised because he was sure Zay would at least argue that maybe Farkle was being over dramatic or rash in his assessment. It had definitely crossed Lucas’ mind to say something along those lines more than once in the last couple minutes. At the sight of Zay’s show of comradery, Lucas reaches over and grips Farkle’s shoulder tightly.

“It’ll be okay, buddy,” Zay says firmly. Farkle practically collapses backward into the chair, covering his face with his hands.

“No, no it’s won't,” Farkle argues with a gasp of breath, sounding panicked, “there is no way this can be okay. Maya hates me which means Riley hates me and-” Farkle suddenly goes silent, sitting up once again. “Oh god they hate me,” he whispers, looking truly lost for the first time since Lucas and Zay met him. He stands suddenly. “I need to go,” he declares and heads for the door.

“Whoa!” Zay cries in surprise, jumping up, and reaching for Farkle at the same moment that Lucas calls after him and tries to grab the genius’ arm but Farkle is already out the door before they fully grasp what just happened. The two friends share a look of concern but Zay slowly lowers himself into his seat, hands clasped in front of him.

“Do you think he’ll be okay?” he asks Lucas.

Lucas sighs, “I sure hope so,” he replies softly, looking uncertain.

*-*

“Maya! Maya, wait!” Riley calls after her friend, but Maya hasn’t slowed her pace since leaving Topanga’s. Maya abruptly stops and Riley ends up running into her back, not anticipating the girl to actually listen to her. Riley frowns and backs up a step, confused, until Maya jerks her arm out, hand open in offering. Riley gives Maya a sad smile, “Oh Peaches,” she whispers sadly and takes the blonde’s hand. They walk the rest of the way to Riley’s apartment in silence. Riley leads the way inside and quickly checks that the apartment is still empty, before tugging Maya to her room.

Maya doesn’t release Riley’s hand when she walks over to Riley’s bed and pulls off the comforter, kicking off her shoes as she goes. She pulls Riley to the Bay Window and wraps the comforter around herself with one hand, only her face poking out of her cocoon, while her other stays curled around Riley’s. The firm grip she has on Riley’s hand is reminiscent of Farkle’s shaky grip on Maya, using her like a lifeline. At that moment she felt like she’d die if Riley released her hand. She is so angry and upset. And now she is riddled with guilt when she remembers the look on Farkle’s face when she’d let go of his hand.

“Riles,” she whispers, “Tell me I didn’t do the wrong thing. Tell me I wasn’t wrong. Tell me, please.” Riley gives Maya a sympathetic look.

“Oh Maya,” she says softly. She opens her mouth to lie, but it doesn’t come. For the most part, she actually agrees with Maya. She can’t understand how Farkle could think something so awful. She wants to tell Maya she understands her reaction, especially considering her past, but then she remembers the vulnerable way Farkle had confided in Maya and the broken expression on his face and she can’t form the words.

“Riley, please,” Maya begs.

Riley drops her head in shame, “Maya, I can’t,” she admits, “I’m so sorry.”

Maya buries deeper into her cocoon, tears welling up in her eyes. Riley pulls Maya against her side, slowly releasing her hand in order to wrap her arm around Maya, holding her tightly. She leans her cheek against Maya’s head, simply holding her sobbing friend quietly. Maya ends up falling asleep against Riley, while Riley stays awake, stroking Maya’s hair gently. She desperately tries to untangle the mixed up thoughts in her head. For a moment she can’t help wondering if Farkle has anyone to hold him and stroke his hair but she quickly shakes the thought off. A few hours later, Maya wakes up, wipes her face, and shoots Riley a hollow smile before slipping out of the window and down the fire escape with barely 5 words spoken between them.

Riley crosses her legs, leaning back against the closed window behind her. She pulls the comforter beside her on top of her legs, rolling the fabric between her fingers in thought. She sits there in silence for a few minutes, until her father pushes her bedroom door open, a look of concern on his face.

“Maya gone?” Cory asks softly, Riley simply nods. Cory sighs, closing the door behind him. He walks over to Riley and sits beside her, he opens his arm in offering. She stares at him for a moment before her face scrunches up, her bottom lip wobbling.

“Daddy,” she whispers and tucks herself into his side, clutching at his shirt, burying her face into his shirt and sobbing. Cory holds Riley tightly, stroking her hair softly, giving her the comfort she’s needed since chasing after Maya. 

“It’s alright, baby,” Cory whispers softly, making soft soothing noises while his daughter lets her feelings out. After about half an hour, Riley’s tears finally dry up and she stops shaking. Riley pulls away, wiping at her puffy red eyes.

“Riley,” he says gently, stroking a stray hair from her forehead, “tell me what’s going on.” Riley nervously picks at the comforter again, but tells him about what’s happened since yesterday. Cory looks just as shocked by Farkle’s admission as the rest of them had been, but he looks unsurprised by Maya’s reaction, only deeply concerned.

“Wow,” he mumbles, stroking his chin in thought, “Two days… teenage angst really streamlines the process, huh?” he tries for a joke but Riley gives him a miserable look.

“Dad, what am I supposed to do?” she asks, “I kind of think Maya’s right, but I don’t agree with the way she told him… Dad, the look on his face was… but how could he think something so awful?”

“Well,” Cory says slowly, grimacing slightly, “Did you ask why he felt that way?”

“No,” she admits, “Maya was really upset, so I followed her here.”

“Did anybody ask why he feels the way he does?” he restates the question.

“Well… no,” she says, frowning deeply, “I mean, I’m not sure. Lucas or Zay may have.”

“I think you need to ask him about it,” Cory advises his daughter.

“But what could he possibly say that could justify wishing your own parents would break up?” she asks, “And his seem so great.”

Cory takes a moment to think about the Minkus’, from what he’s seen of them as parents and what he’s heard Farkle say about them. “I think I can confidently say they’re fantastic parents,” Cory concedes, remembering the way Minkus proudly showed off his son and the look on Jennifer’s face when she thanked Minkus for giving her a son, but he also remembers the way they talked in regards to each other and mentions of scream matches, “But it is possible that Farkle doesn’t believe they’re good for each other as a romantic couple.”

“But who could think that about their parents that way?” Riley cries, hopping up abruptly in her need to release her frustrations.

“Not everyone grew up with a Cory and Topanga,” Cory tells her, “and even if they’re not as bad as Kermit and Katy, they still might not be good for each other and Farkle gets a front row view of his parent’s relationship and apparently he believes what he’s seeing is not good. Maybe Farkle isn’t an expert on relationships, but you and your friends know him best and you know this is really upsetting him and if that is how he feels, it might be a good idea to have someone who he can talk to.”

Riley wraps her arms around herself, trying to absorb what she’s being told and simply nods.

“I’m sure you guys will make the right choice,” Cory assures Riley, standing and placing a solid hand on her head and stroking her hair back, “you always do.”

*-*

The next day, Riley is surprised to find Farkle in his seat 15 minutes before class is going to start. She expected Farkle to put off coming in like he’d done the last two days but she takes it as a positive. She glances at Maya, but Maya is pointedly not looking at Farkle, her movements are sharp and aggressive, clearly still angry with Farkle. Riley frowns at Maya but shoots Farkle a hello and a smile. Farkle gives Riley an attempt at a smile and a small wave but it’s weak and he doesn’t say a word to her.

The three sit in complete silence for 10 minutes, until Lucas comes in. He shares a worried look with Riley and glances between Maya and Farkle before taking his seat. Lucas gives Farkle a supportive smile and a pat on the knee. Maya shoots Lucas a betrayed look but doesn’t say anything, for once keeping her anger quiet. Part of Riley wonders if it’s because part of her still feels bad for how she reacted. It doesn’t really come to head until Zay walks in, a minute later, and tuts at Maya.

“Don’t,” Lucas says sharply when Maya opens her mouth, glancing pointedly between the both of them, making sure they know it was directed at both of them. Instead, they sit in silence once again. Most of the students who have never seen the group of friends before chattered on, blissfully ignorant, but a few students from John Quincy Adams Middle were shooting them concerned looks. They had plenty of fights in the past, but they were always vocal, especially if it was Maya who was angry or because Lucas wants it fixed, but the group was just silent. It was unnerving, like a bomb ready to go off and they weren’t really sure who was going to be the one to go off first. 

They were still sitting in dead silence when Mr. Matthews walks in, he takes one look at the group and sighs. He turns to the black board, picks up his chalk, and writes in big bold letters, ‘Rome’ and underneath that he writes ‘Augustus’. He turns to his class.

“Alright, I’m sure everybody here has heard of Rome, but who can tell me what the word below it means?” Cory prompts, looking among the face of his class, when no one speaks up, his eyes land on Farkle hopefully, “Farkle?”

Farkle stays quiet but he opens his mouth and for a moment, Cory thinks this might be progress but instead of very fast, yet understandable, English pouring out of his mouth, fluent and definitely not understandable French is what he hears.

“Wrong language, Farkle,” Cory points out, thinking Farkle has accidentally slipped into a foreign language again. Farkle shakes his head and says something else in French, the only recognizable word being ‘Maya’ and ‘Lucas’. Farkle looks at a shell shocked Lucas, a question in his eyes.

“Farkle, come on,” Lucas pleads softly, but Farkle’s expression turns desperate. Lucas sighs and turns his focus on Mr. Matthews. “Sir, Farkle says that August is a title given to the emperor of Rome, similar to how we say King before a monarch’s name and uh,” he looks at Farkle and Farkle repeats something in French, “Oh and it was originally the name of the first Emperor of Rome and was then passed down to his successors.”

“That’s correct, Luc- uh Farkle,” Cory agrees, “but Lucas, I get the feeling you’re leaving out something kind of important.”

Lucas sighs, then braces himself, “Farkle says that he’s speaking in French because he knows Maya doesn’t want to listen to him anymore, and he’s asked me to translate, sir,” Lucas explains. Maya’s mouth hangs open, her expression torn between outrage and what might be guilt, she looks as if she’s going to speak but abruptly turns to the front of the classroom, her mouth a thin line. Farkle sinks slightly lower in his seat while Maya grips the edge of her desk tightly. 

“Farkle,” Mr. Matthews tries, but Farkle cuts him off in French.

“He says he’s fine, sir,” Lucas translates without prompting.

Mr. Matthews sighs deeply, “Alright…, Augustus was the first Roman emperor, and you may not recognize his name but you may know his famous adoptive father” he says, continuing with the lesson, “Can you think of any really famous Romans that might be who I’m talking about?”

“Julius Caesar,” Riley says, Mr. Matthews smiles.

“That’s right,” Mr. Matthews praises his daughter’s contribution, “You may recognize Julius Caesar from Shakespeare’s very popular play of the same name.”

“Wait,” Zay breaks in, “Is Caesar the guy who got stabbed in the back by his friends?”

“That’s right Zay,” Mr. Matthews says, not noticing the way Maya has visibly tensed, “Julius Caesar was assassinated by fellow politicians and senators who worked very closely with him.”

“Hmm, sounds like someone I know,” Zay jabs at Maya.

“Zay!” Lucas yells but Maya is already whipping around and jumping to her feet, glaring daggers at Zay.

“Don’t act like you have any idea what you’re talking about!” Maya yells at him, “You weren’t even there, okay!?”

Zay jumps to his feet, slamming his hands on the desk, “No, I wasn’t there,” he shoots back, “But from where I’m standing, Farkle opened up to you and you rejected him when he was feeling vulnerable and friends don’t do that!”

“Farkle was being selfish,” she growls back, “he-”

“Enough!” Farkle screams, slamming his fist down on his desk with a bang, and the two immediately fall silent. They’d never heard Farkle genuinely yell before. Farkle stands, his chair scraping loudly against the floor. He keeps his fists against the desk, head down, face partially hidden by his fringe.

“I didn’t even want to tell anyone about it! It was something stupid and I didn’t want to put it on any of you but you all just kept pushing!” he yells, finally lifting his head and looking between his friends, “And I finally opened up because I believed you Maya, I believed you actually cared and wanted to help me. But the truth is you were the last person I wanted to talk to about it, because I knew you’d react the way you did, but I let faith skew my calculations.”

Maya looks torn, unsure of whether or not she should be yelling back or begging forgiveness or if this is even really an argument. Luckily Farkle kept talking and took the choice from her.

“And I’m sorry for that, Maya,” he apologizes and Maya just looks stunned now, “I should have kept my mouth shut and now, because I can’t keep my stupid feeling to myself, I’ve made everyone upset. I never want my friends to fight, let alone for something as ridiculous as me. I don’t blame you for your reaction Maya, and I don’t want you to blame her either, Zay. It was my own fault.”

His friends look completely heartbroken, all looking guilty and upset for their friend and the fact that he thought of himself so lowly. Maya isn’t angry anymore, she just looks like her guilt is eating her alive.

“Farkle,” Riley wants to make him understand that’s not how they see him and that they care about how he’s feeling and about his whole introspective journey but he’s gathering his bag and books quickly.

“But right now, I think it’s best I be excused,” he says, giving a quick fake smile.

“Farkle, wait,” Lucas calls after his best friend, but he’s ignored. Lucas jerks to his feet to follow but Mr. Matthews holds up a hand to stop him.

“Lucas, I think he might need some space,” he tells him. He would usually endorse them going after their friend and talking it through, but that was exhaustion if he’s ever seen it. Lucas opens his mouth to argue but Zay reaches over and places a hand on Lucas’ shoulder, shaking his head lightly. Lucas sighs and sits back down.

Mr. Matthew glances between the teens and sighs, “So, Rome.”

*-*

Farkle spends the rest of Mr. Matthews’ class sitting in a stall in the cleanest bathroom on the third floor, just trying to breathe and get his brain to go blank. But of course, he is Farkle. And there was no such thing as a Farkle with a blank mind. He spends the following 2 periods throwing himself head long into his AP course work. When entering High School, he decided it was time to finally up his work load. He ended up testing out of most of the high school level classes. He never did get around to telling his friends that his entire schedule was made up of AP courses and that he was technically already ready to graduate. They might ask what he’s doing in a regular World History course, just like his counselor had. He expected to be left alone until at least after school, just like the previous days but when he steps out of his 3rd period AP English class, ready to head to lunch, he finds Lucas leaning on the wall beside the door.

“Lucas, what are you doing here?” he asks in confusion, “How do you even know I was here? Aren’t you suppose to still be in class?”

Lucas shrugs, “I have PE and my teacher is a gambling man, I bet him a free period if I could make a basket from half court and he didn’t think I could do it,” Lucas explains and grins, “but he didn’t know I had a Farkle show me exactly how to make that shot.”

Farkle cracks a small smile at the memory, “Okay, but why do all that? And that doesn’t really explain how you know my class schedule.”

“Well that’s easy, my teacher didn’t believe I could do it again,” he replies with a small laugh.

“Lucas,” he says sternly, raising a brow at his friend. Lucas frowns, dropping his playful behavior.

“We need to talk, Farkle,” he states firmly.

Farkle sighs, “At least let me grab lunch.”

*-*

Farkle settles down in Riley’s usual desk in Mr. Matthews’ empty classroom, while Lucas rolls Mr. Matthews’ desk chair in front of the desk Farkle is occupying. “Mr. Matthews let me borrow the classroom so we can talk,” Lucas explains the obvious.

“I see,” Farkle mumbles, picking up a tater tot and munching on it, waiting for Lucas to start talking.

“I’m just gonna cut to the chase,” Lucas declares and Farkle nods in agreement, but when Lucas opens his mouth nothing comes out.

“Lucas,” Farkle sighs, putting a hand on Lucas’ wrist where it’s resting on the desk, “I’m okay.”

“No, Farkle,” Lucas disagrees firmly, shocking Farkle, “You are not okay. You’re not fine. Something serious is bothering you and you think you can’t tell your best friends because you think your own emotions are ‘stupid’ and that you aren’t worth arguing over. And it’s our fault, Farkle. It is. We’ve consistently allowed ourselves to selfishly concentrate on our problems, only getting our attention when it becomes impossible for us to not notice something is wrong and you have always been there. You are always there to help, from what I understand, you have been long before I got here. What Maya did was not okay, we all didn’t handle the situation very well, but she made it about herself when you were the one who was struggling with something that was bothering you so much. What Maya did was wrong but I know she would never want you to believe that she doesn’t value you or your feelings. Farkle, we love you and I know we aren’t as smart as you, but we still want to know what’s going on in that big genius Farkle brain of yours.”

Farkle stops eating through the speech, simply rolling a tater tot between his fingers while he listens. He finally releases it when Lucas turns expectant eyes on him. He opens his mouth, Lucas leans forward slightly in anticipation, then closes it. Lucas sighs and leans back in the chair, he reaches over and flips the name plate over to the side with ‘Farkle’ on it.

“Come on, buddy,” he urges him, “It’s Farkle time and I want to learn something from Farkle.” He stands and pulls Farkle out from behind the desk and plops the genius into the wheeled chair he just vacated and takes Riley’s seat, effectively switching their positions. Lucas reaches for a tater tot but his hand is smacked lightly for the attempt. He winces and hugs his hand to his chest in mock hurt.

Farkle leans back in the comfortable chair when he is sure Lucas won’t go for another tot. “I… I have always been confident in my intelligence,” he begins, “I always felt safe in the knowledge that I knew who I was and I believed it didn’t matter if I had friends or not because I was smarter than them, so what did it matter if they didn’t like me? Why would I want judgmental friends like that anyways? At least, that’s what I told myself. The truth is, those were just things I told myself when I started to realize kids genuinely didn’t like me. Even Maya and Riley. Maya and Riley’s friendship was like a living dream, a friendship I had always wanted, standing right in front of me.” Lucas lets a small fond smile form on his face.

“But it wasn’t mine to have,” Lucas’ smile promptly fell, “I have known Riley and Maya since I was in the first grade and I called them my friends but the truth is I knew they didn’t see me that way. After all, I was just… a Farkle… I didn’t blame them for it, just like I wouldn’t blame them now. The fact that they even acknowledged my existence, that they knew my name, was like a dream come true, even if they never really saw me as a friend. I have always been secure in the fact that I am a genius and one day I will rule the world but I don’t think there’s ever actually been a day of my life where I was secure with myself as a person. I had no friends, my parents fought most days, and no matter how nice I was to someone, no matter how much I was willing to give myself to them, people still looked at me like I was just a freak.” Lucas is holding himself very still, afraid he might just jump up and pull the other boy into a suffocating hug, he jerks slightly, however, at the next words. “Until you came along.”

“What?” Lucas whispers, voice unexpectedly raw.

“You were the thing in our lives that sparked the change, Lucas,” Farkle explains, leaning his elbows on his own knees. “You showed up and suddenly everything was changing. At first, I was threatened. I was so sure you would be the final straw that would officially push me out of Riley and Maya’s lives completely and it terrified me. I didn’t want to lose the only connection I had to the real world taken from me, but you… you turned out to be amazing… infuriatingly so. You were handsome and so sweet it gave me a tooth ache but you would do what you needed to in order to protect your friends and it just further solidified my hypothesis that you were going to be the reason I lost them both forever but instead, not only did I finally form a bond with them, I gained a Lucas and a Zay. And… now that I know I have you all…I am more terrified and insecure than I ever was before.” Lucas looks confused by the last confession. Farkle huffs a small laugh at Lucas’ confused expression. “When I was just… a background character to the epic friendship that is Maya and Riley, I thought it was the most important thing to me and I thought I could never cherish something more than I did the moments when they let me into their lives, until they finally saw me. They started to actually see me, to look at me as an actual friend and I thought, ‘there can’t be anything better than this’, and then you became my friend and the three of you defended me so fiercely when I was at my lowest and I thought ‘there can’t be anything better than this’ but it did get better. Zay showed up and just like when you showed up, I believed the end was coming. You wouldn’t need a Farkle anymore when you had a Maya, a Riley, a Lucas, and a Zay. Pretty soon there wouldn’t be room left but then we went to Texas. 

“And it was awful because everything became a mess but even though I was thinking ‘this can’t get any worse’ I couldn’t help thinking ‘there couldn’t be anything better than this’. Zay became my friend and I got what I had always wanted. Riley and Maya confided in me when they were afraid to confide in each other about their feelings for you and it was selfish but even while I ached for their struggle, I was sure I’d float away. And just like that I feared for the day I would no longer be useful to them. Every day was a day I was waiting for it to all be taken from me, even now I wait for the day you’ll all tell me you’re sick of me. So, I keep my problems to myself because I believe I’m lucky to even be given the chance to be friends with you guys. Out of infinite possibilities, I was able to meet you four and the fact that you guys even looked my way is… is a scientific anomaly. I don’t want to give any of you a reason to push me away, like what’s been happening now.”

Lucas is speechless, staring at Farkle slightly heartbroken for his friend. “Farkle,” Lucas breathes out, his voice scratchy as if he’d been crying although his eyes remained dry. He leaps up suddenly, causing Farkle to flinch. Lucas grabs Farkle’s thin arm, pulling the small teen into a tight hug. “You look at our friendship like it’s made of flimsy playing cards but it’s not, Farkle, it’s made of cement blocks,” he mumbles into Farkle’s hair. Farkle gasps softly, he throws his arms around Lucas, clutching at the back of his brown leather jacket, white knuckling the fabric. He presses his forehead firmly to Lucas’ shoulder.

Farkle jumps lightly in surprise when he hears a loud sniff, he pulls his head from Lucas’ shoulder and is surprised to find a red faced Maya and Riley. There are tear tracks on their faces, looking absolutely wrecked and a notably sniffling Zay beside them.

“I really need to get better at eavesdrop checks,” Farkle jokes, Lucas smiles softly and pulls away from Farkle. Maya immediately takes up his space, wrapping her arms around Farkle’s neck, burying her face between Farkle’s neck and her arm. Farkle wraps his arms around, hugging her close without question. He buries his face in the familiar smell of her hair and breathes her in, feeling something inside him loosen.

“I’m so sorry, Farkle,” she whispers.

“Maya, really, you don’t-”

“Don’t tell me what I should and shouldn’t feel bad about,” she interrupts him, clutching him even tighter, “you’re important to me and I let you think you weren’t, I was upset but I shouldn’t have reacted like that. I should have heard you out instead of making assumptions. And I’m sorry.”

Farkle feels a warmth against his back and notices familiar brown waves at the corner of his eye. “We love you, Farkle,” Riley says softly against the back of Farkle’s neck. Farkle feels a third set of strong arms wrap around them from his left side and a cheek pressed against the top of his head.

“Yeah, man,” Zay voice agrees from the top of Farkle’s head, “We love you.”

“We love you,” Maya agrees. A fourth set of arms wrap around them from Farkle’s right side, completing the group.

“We really do, Farkle,” Lucas chimes in, resting his forehead against the area where Farkle and Maya’s heads rest against one another.

Farkle felt vaguely claustrophobic and he is pretty sure those are tears and snot that Riley and Maya are pressing against his neck and he has never felt happier in his life. “I love you guys too,” he answers, melting into the strange five way hug. 

The group enjoy their moment for a minute longer before finally separating. Riley takes her usual seat while Riley takes hers, they scoot closer together while Lucas and Zay pull two desk closer, forming a little semi-circle around the desk chair.

“Uh, what are you guys doing?” Farkle asks in confusion.

“We… we are having the first ever Farkle Minkus council meeting,” Maya declares, “You’ll have plenty of those on your way to ruling the world, but this is the first.”

“There there!” Riley agrees, slamming her fist on the desk.

“No, it’s- you know what, never mind,” Maya says, “There there!”

Farkle can’t help the grin breaking out over his face, the first in a few days, while he slips back into the comfortable leather of the chair. “I do like the sound of that,” he admits, “but shouldn’t you guys be in class?”

“Teacher was absent so we had study hall,” Zay chimes in.

“I skipped when I figured out Huckleberry’s plans,” Maya states bluntly.

“I didn’t want to be alone,” Riley adds, looking uncomfortable about skipping.

Farkle glances at his watch, “Well you’re only a few minutes late, you could still make it,” he points out.

“No,” Maya states firmly, “We’re all here and it’s ‘Farkle time’, I think it’s about time we had that talk.” Farkle frowns, looking noticeably uncomfortable, clearly concerned about possibly upsetting Maya, or any of his other friends for that matter.

“Farkle, we’re your friends and we care about you,” Riley declares, “Opening up about how you’re feeling isn’t going to make us love you any less, in fact, it’d probably make us closer.” Farkle is staring between his friends, looking for some indication that they might not be telling the whole truth, but when he sees only earnest open faces, he nods.

“You guys have heard the basics of what it is that’s been bothering me recently, and I know… I know it’s hard to understand how someone could think this way, but emotions… come differently to me. I don’t disregard thoughts simply because they evoke a negative emotion from me and maybe that’s caused me a lot of problems when it comes to my own self esteem issues but with others it allows me to have a kind of objective view even if I’m not one hundred percent objective,” he pauses to take in their expressions, making sure they’re still following, “Well, as you guys know, ever since… the whole Donnie Barnes thing, I’ve been trying to figure myself out. It’s been… difficult. Turns out Farkle is still an enigma even to the great Farkle himself.” The group smiles fondly. “Well, a lot of it was spending time analyzing my emotions and reactions to current and past situations, but an unintended side effect to that is I’ve begun doing it to other people. It’s helped a little to better understand emotions and how people react to them, but it’s also made me notice things. Things… I wish I hadn’t noticed. I started to realize that my parents were incredibly dysfunctional as a couple… for the most part I’d ignored this, I think, partly to preserve my own innocence, but also because I believed it wasn’t my place to judge something I had so little experience in. So, I let it go. But it continued to rear its head, I decided to look into something I did have experience in, myself. I realized my views of what a relationship should be were imitations of what my parents are. And it came down to the simple truth that my parents are not a loving couple in a devoted relationship merely for the sake of love and companionship. They’re business partners.”

“But Farkle,” Riley breaks in, all eyes going to her, “I mean, I know your parents are a little weird but they still love you so much. How could you think they’d be so unfeeling?”

“Yeah,” Lucas adds, “what could they have done to upset you so much?”

Farkle actually smiles softly, loving how his friends for trying so hard to see everything in a positive light. “They do love me Riley, so much, and I never believed otherwise,” he agrees confidently. “But ‘a parent’s romantic relationship with the other parent, does not reflect the feelings they have for the child’” he quotes. “I’ve done a lot of reading on the subject,” he admits. “Through observation and reading and even my own emotions and what I’ve learned about love” he shoots them all a heartwarmingly fond look, “I’ve come to this realization and as much as I am terrified of possibly changing something that’s been so consistent in my life, I don’t think my parents are happy. They fight often-”

“But even my parents fight all the time,” Riley breaks in, clinging desperately to something to convince Farkle that this is not something he should think about his parents and maybe he just hasn’t looked at all the variables.

“Do your parents have semi-regular screaming matches? Do they threaten each other with divorce and infidelity? Do they yell about how they should have married someone else?” Farkle rapidly asks each question. Riley falls silent, looking uncomfortable. “You have no idea how often I actually hear the names Topanga Lawrence and Shawn Hunter. I don’t even think my mother actually wishes she’d stayed with him, I think she just wants someone to hurt him with.”

“I didn’t know that,” Riley replies softly.

“I know, because I didn’t realize how awful it actually was,” he confesses, “I never felt insecure about how my parents felt about me, but when they fought, I frequently wondered if this would be the fight that finally ended it. They are… they’re like radiation.”

“What now?” Maya broke in, finally finding her words in the presence of a science word she didn’t understand.

“They’re unstable. They fight most days and others they seem perfect but the next, one of them is flying off to California in a huff, only to come back a few hours later because they know they can’t just run away from their children and their company. So they talk about business and cash margins and my mother won’t wear her wedding ring for days at a time. They make the perfect pair of business partners, but they are not a happy couple,” he explains, “And while we were on vacation for the summer I watched them do this all throughout Europe, triggered by some arrogant comment from my father or something insignificant. One of them would rush off, leaving me and my little sister with the other. I don’t want her growing up thinking this is normal… and when I realized what I was thinking about my own parents, I felt… horrible. I felt ungrateful and guilty for thinking so terribly about them.”

Maya looks down at her hands in shame, remembering yelling at him and calling him selfish.

“But I couldn’t get it out of my mind no matter how much I told myself that it was selfish to feel that way and that there was no way they’d even listen me if I tried, I’d find myself constantly imagining how I would do it, what it would be like if they did break up. Every possible scenario just playing in front of my eyes,” he says, scratching his chin, “Trust me, there were even some with my father running away to become a rodeo clown.”

“So… you’ve just been dealing with this all summer and you didn’t talk to us about it?” Zay asks next.

“Not all summer, most of the summer I was just gathering data, but a few days before class it just struck me while I was thinking over my findings,” he describes, he shivers at the memory of the sudden shock that had gone through him, “And like I said… I just didn’t know how to. It was the very next thing I thought about. I nearly texted you all while I was still freaking out but I stopped myself because I thought it was a stupid thing to bother you guys with.” The group collective goes to argue but Farkle waves them off, “I know, I know, but that’s what I thought at the time and even when I still wanted to talk about it, I tried to figure out who I should tell.”

“You were only going to tell one of us?” Lucas asks, curious but slightly offended that he didn’t trust all of them.

“Only at first,” Farkle confesses, he massages the bridge of his nose in slight frustration “I wasn’t even sure if I was just over reacting or not and I was- am still feeling guilty for even thinking what I’m thinking and I was afraid of how you all would react.” He looks Maya straight in the eyes now, “The truth is you were the last person I wanted to tell,” he confesses to her. She immediately looks hurt. “I know having two parents is important to you and I knew it would upset you and I didn’t want that.” Maya looks at her lap in shame. Farkle reaches over and takes her hand gently.

“I don’t blame you,” he says softly, she looks up at him, surprised, her still puffy red eyes shining again, “I was so happy that you cared enough to hunt me down and try to find out what was wrong with me. That you wanted to protect me.” 

“But I hurt you,” Maya points out, her voice shaking slightly. She swallows thickly and digs her free hand into her leg, attempting to get herself under control.

“And I hurt you too,” he counters, “And I knew it would when I told you.”

“But I broke your trust,” she argues back.

“You could never do that,” he tells her, shaking his head, “I would trust you guys with my life.”

“But not enough to think we aren’t going to leave you,” Riley points out. Farkle opens his mouth but only air comes out, he closes it and looks away, unable to meet her eyes.

“That’s not because I don’t trust you,” he explains, “It’s because I don’t trust myself to not screw everything up.” Maya squeezes Farkle’s hand painfully tight.

“Well stop thinkin’ that,” Maya demands fiercely, “Because you’re stuck with us.” There was a chorus of agreement.

Farkle’s grin is blinding.

*-*

For a little while, the group of friends ignore the elephant in the room and just enjoy the new found bond in their relationship. They get lunch together, since Farkle’s food has gone cold and no one is planning on returning to class until next period anyway. They meet up after school and they finally got a chance to really talk about how their first day had gone. Farkle opens up about his AP work load and admits he may or may not have threatened the counselor with leaving if he didn’t put them all in the same World History class. Cory doesn’t even chase the boys out of his daughter’s room when he finds the fivesome in a messy pillow fort, chatting and joking and munching on junk food. Maya is casually pressed against Farkle’s side while talking to Riley and Zay about her art teacher’s crazy mole that kind of looks like George Washington. Farkle has wrapped a blanket tightly around himself, his feet tucked under Lucas’ legs while he talks about how his AP Statistics teacher is so slow and he wishes they were already further ahead. They only leave to eat dinner with Cory, Topanga, and Auggie. It’s a packed affair but an exuberant one. They immediately trot back to their pillow fort when their plates are cleaned.

Cory doesn’t even get angry when Cory and Topanga peek into the room at 1am and find the boys still there, fast asleep. They spot Riley and Maya curled up in Riley’s bed, with Auggie passed out at the foot of the bed, spread out with his mouth hanging open. The three boys are spread out over the floor, with Zay between Farkle and Lucas, his head resting on Farkle’s stomach and his feet thrown over Lucas’ lap, all still in their clothes from the day before. 

“There are a bunch of boys sleeping in our teenage daughter’s room, we should be yelling, right?” Cory whispers uncertainly to Topanga.

“Hmm,” Topanga hums in thought, “Nah.” 

Cory sighs deeply, a forlorn sound, “Yeah,” he grumbles when Topanga reaches over and flicks the light off. They close the door quietly behind them with a click.

When the door clicks shut, Riley peeks an eye open to make sure her parents have left. She very slowly and quietly sits up so as not to disturb any of the room’s occupants. She looks around at the sleeping forms of her friends spread around her room and smiles. She lays back down and turns over, wrapping an arm around Maya and tucking herself against the blonde’s back.

*-*

For the next two days, the group fall back into a more normal routine, although they don’t see each other much during the school day, they enjoy their first class each morning and hang out after school, usually to work on homework. Riley nearly has a conniption when Maya pulls out her math text book one Wednesday afternoon. 

Oh Saturday, Riley and Maya are sitting at the Bay Window, mostly just thinking. When suddenly Farkle sticks his head through the window.

“Ladies,” he greets, slipping through and sitting down beside Maya.

“Farkle,” the girls reply in unison. 

“Are you, uh, busy?” he asks them.

“Very,” Maya says, still staring into space.

“What are you guys thinking about?” he asks next.

“What scientific explanation there could be for Mr. Belbous’ George Washington mole,” Maya replies.

“I think it’s magic,” Riley pipes up.

“She thinks it’s magic,” Maya confirms.

“Ohhh,” Farkle mumbles, patting his hands rhythmically on the cushion of the seat when silence falls over them.

“I bet he was kissed by a unicorn,” Riley whispers to herself.

A few minutes of silence stretch over them after that particular declaration, “Any reason you’re here, Farkle?” Maya finally asks.

“I want to tell my parents how I’ve been feeling,” he tells them bluntly. Both heads whip around to look at him.

“Um, is that a good idea?” Riley asks hesitantly.

“I have no idea,” he admits, shoulders slumping, “I have no idea how they’ll react… but I am hoping for the one with the aliens.”

“The aliens?” the girls ask.

“Not important,” he waves off. 

“Well, I guess you won’t know unless you talk to them,” Maya states firmly and stands. Riley and Farkle are openly shocked by this proclamation. Maya turns to Farkle and offers her hand and holds her other hand out to Riley without looking. Riley take’s it without question and stands beside Maya. “Do you want us to go with you?” she asks him.

Farkle looks completely blown away by the offer and slowly takes Maya’s hand, “Yeah,” he answers a bit breathlessly, “I think I’d like that.”

“Then I guess we have some phone calls to make,” Riley says with a reassuring smile, offering her own hand to Farkle which he takes immediately, squeezing their hands tightly with a grateful smile.

*-*

Within the hour, Farkle, Maya, and Riley are at Topanga’s Café with Lucas and Zay who have been updated on the situation. The group have somehow found themselves all touching Farkle in some way. Riley and Lucas standing behind him, rubbing his arm and shoulder reassuringly while Maya holds his hand and Zay keeps a comforting hand on the genius’ knee. Topanga and Katy are watching the friends with a worried look. That’s how Farkle’s parents find them when they come striding in, all upright postures and parental concern. Farkle quickly stands when he spots his parents. Maya and Riley immediately shoot their mothers a look, and the two reluctantly disappear in to the backroom, giving the group some semblance of privacy.

“Farkle, honey,” Jennifer Minkus says, sounding worried and frightened for her son, approaching him in quick strides, her heels echoing her steps. She begins stroking his hair when she reaches him, checking for damage, “What’s the matter? Why did you want to meet us here?”

“Is someone bullying you?” Stuart Minkus asks next, moving in on Farkle’s other side, placing a hand on his son’s shoulder, “I can make them disappear, you know?”

Farkle can’t help smiling at his parent’s concern, but it only made him feel guiltier. “No, mother, father,” he assures them, falling into his more prim speech pattern, “I’m not being bullied.”

Jennifer glances at Farkle’s friends who are watching the family anxiously. Her eyes roam over her son’s friends in a calculating manner, an idea forming in her mind, before she looks at her son again, “Honey, please,” she begs, “tell us what’s wrong.” She leans in and kisses Farkle’s forehead, “You know you can tell us anything.”

“I know, mother,” he tells her and pulls away from them, “Would you please sit down?” Stuart and Jennifer look uncertain but they move to the patterned rectangular seat to the right of the group’s orange chairs. Farkle sits back down beside Maya, his friends immediately get their hands on him again.

“Son,” Stuart speaks up now, “tell us what’s going on.”

“You know we’ll love you no matter what,” Jennifer says with a sort of desperation in her voice that Farkle doesn’t quite understanding.

“Well, mother, father,” Farkle addresses them, “I believe I… that is… I…”

“It’s okay, Farkle,” Stuart assures him.

“We’ve known for a long ti-” Jennifer speaks next.

“I think you should get a divorce,” Farkle blurts out, cutting off his mother. Farkle’s parents look as if they have been struck, a feat not many in the world can claim to have done.

“W-What?” Jennifer gasps, looking truly for a loss of words for the first time in her life. While Stuart just looks plain lost. Farkle isn’t sure what his parents thought he would tell them today but what he’s said, he knows, wasn’t even on the list of potential points of discussion.

Farkle feels wave after wave of guilt crash over him but he knows there’s no turning back and his friend’s reassuring presence give him enough courage to continue on, even though he can feel his hand shaking in Maya’s grasp. She only squeezes his hand tighter. “I do not believe you make a compatible pair and I don’t believe you make each other happy,” he says bluntly.

“Farkle,” Stuart finally speaks up, “We are very happy.” Their expressions are a myriad of emotion in the face of their son’s statements.

“But not with each other,” he shoots back, his voice detached, “I know you love me and I know you’re happy with the successes in your life, but I don’t think you are happy with each other. I believe you merely put up with each other because you work well together as business partners and you are grateful for one another giving each other companionship and a family and maybe even just because you think it’s best for your children, but as spouses, I don’t think you are compatible. I- I have hypothesized that you resent each other but are afraid to discuss divorce.”

“Farkle, you have no idea what-” Jennifer starts, sounding angry and hurt at the accusation. 

“But I do,” he cuts in, “I see the way you two interact every day and it’s not… it’s not healthy. And I know… I know how scary the prospect of being alone can be-“ he feels his friends squeeze whatever part of him they’re touching tightly, “but I believe you should give each other the chance to find the kind of love you deserve to have because I know how amazing you both are and I don’t think it’s fair that you should deprive each other of finding someone that makes you genuinely happy.”

“You have no right to-” Jennifer tries to cut in again.

“Oh, would ya listen?” Maya interrupts her sharply. Jennifer appears enraged but she clamps her mouth shut when she sees the robotic blankness on her son’s face and the misery she can see in his eyes. 

“Do you believe it’s healthy for me to grow up thinking this is a good example of a happy marriage? Or your daughter? For a long time, I believed that I’d be lucky to have someone like Maya-“ he shoots her a fond look, then Riley, “or Riley, and I still do, but I didn’t care if they actually liked me or if they were just using me because I thought that’s just how relationships are. And I saw the search history for divorce lawyers in the area a few months ago,” he hammers the last nail in the coffin. Jennifer goes white and Stuart looks at Jennifer in horror. The group look surprised by this piece of information. They had thought Farkle’s analysis was based on just observations, they didn’t know he’d actually found physical evidence of an unhappy marriage. “There isn’t a search history I can’t find,” Farkle says with an empty smile.

“Remind me to keep you away from my laptop,” Zay mumbles, looking deeply concerned.

Farkle snorts despite himself, “Like that would stop me.”

The group look to the Minkuses, watching as they stare at one another, a silent conversation passing between them. “I think,” Stuart starts, his voice croaking slightly. He stops to clear his throat, swallows thickly, and tries again, “I think your mother and I need to go home and have a talk.” The two stand slowly, clearly dreading the impending discussion and inevitable fight they were going to have. The leave behind a heavy silence.

Farkle watches them go, he reaches up to run his free hand through his hair when he sees them disappear through the door but he stops when he realizes his hand is nearly vibrating in front of him. He drops his hand again.

“That went well,” he breaks the silence, voice shaking. Riley moves around the chair and pulls Farkle up out of his chair and hugs him tightly.

“It’s gonna be okay, Farkle,” Riley says gently. Farkle clutches Riley close, burying his face into Riley’s neck, feeling his eyes sting harshly.

*-*

After that, strangely enough, everything seemed to go on as normal. Farkle still acts a little weird and distant on certain days, but when he’s upset he tells them what’s wrong and when he tells them he’s fine, they believe him. This goes on for about 5 days until Thursday morning, Farkle doesn’t show up for class. The moment the bell rings and there is still no sign of Farkle, Mr. Matthews ask the group where he is, the teens can only share concerned looks and a shrug. Mr. Matthews sighs but continues on to his lesson. About 10 minutes into the lesson, Lucas feels his phone vibrate, and he subtly slips it from his pocket.

“Lucas, no one should be texting you during my class,” Mr. Matthews scolds.

“I know, sir, I’m sorry, sir,” Lucas says politely and glances hurriedly at his phone again, “But I’d like to be excused, if that’s okay, sir.”

Maya, Riley, and Zay look at one another in confusion. Mr. Matthews frowns, “And why is that, Mr. Friar?”

“A friend needs me, sir,” he admits hesitantly. Maya, Riley, and Zay immediately go on high alert.

“Alright, Lucas,” Mr. Matthews finally concedes, gesturing towards the door. Lucas stands and heads for the door, he can see his friends beginning to rise. 

“I think you guys should stay here,” he tells them, Maya goes to argue, but Riley puts a hand on her arm. Riley slowly lowers herself back down into her desk, pulling Maya down as she goes. Maya huffs but stays seated.

“Tell Farkle he better tell us about it later,” Maya commands. Lucas smiles at her and nods before walking out of the classroom and heading for the room that Farkle texted him about.

Lucas approaches the room and notes the words Science Lab, written on a plaque next to the door. He slowly opens the door, peeking in to make sure there isn’t a class occupying the room. The lab is pretty small compared to the science lab his Biology teacher had shown his class, but that doesn’t really matter since it was empty except for one. Lucas spots Farkle sitting in a school issued desk chair, feet propped up on the metal desk off to the left side of the room. It is mostly empty except for a desktop computer.

“Farkle,” Lucas addresses his friend, closing the door behind him and pulling up a stool in front of the desk and sitting down. “What are you doing here?” he asks.

“Well I use to go to the bathroom on the third floor when I needed a minute to myself but I found out this lab is usually empty except on Tuesdays and I thought this was better than a bathroom,” Farkle explains, rocking the chair back and forth lightly.

“I meant,” he says seriously, “Why aren’t you in class?”

“Ah,” Farkle mumbles, leaning back in the chair with his hands resting on his stomach, staring up at the ceiling in silence. Lucas doesn’t speak, just waiting for Farkle to build up the courage to talk.

“My parents have been talking about what I told them,” Farkle’s voice breaks the heavy silence, causing Lucas to involuntarily jump lightly, “They were kind of distant that first day but they reassured me they still love me very much and that they’ll always be proud of me.”

“That’s great, Farkle,” Lucas congratulates his friend, patting the genius’ ankle where it’s still propped up on the desk.

“They’ve been talking seriously about it and last night they told me that they’re separating to see how it goes and my mother is moving out in a few days,” he explains, voice robotic.

“Farkle,” Lucas says gently, trying to decipher his friend’s mood.

“This is what I wanted, right?” Farkle asks the ceiling, not meeting Lucas’ eyes, Lucas frowns, squeezing the boy’s bony ankle, “I wanted them to look at it as a viable option and I wanted them to break up so they could try to be happy. This is what I wanted, right?” Farkle’s robotic voice is interrupted by a crack. He finally lifts his head to look at Lucas, a tear sliding down his face without his consent. “Then why does it hurt?” he whispers.

“Oh, buddy,” Lucas gasps sympathetically, jumping up and pulling Farkle up and against him. Farkle takes the comfort, clutching Lucas tightly, digging his fingers into Lucas’ blue V-neck. Lucas can feel moisture leaking onto his t-shirt, but he can’t find it in himself to mind. Farkle’s body is shaking, jerking sporadically with deep sobs. “The truth is, it always hurts, even when you know it’s for the best,” he tells him, clearly speaking from experience. Lucas rubs Farkles back gently, making soft soothing noises. They spend long minutes doing this, until Farkle finally stills, but he doesn’t pull away.

“You guys have really gotten huggy recently,” Farkle jokes, voice sounding raw and scratchy.

“Our friend has been hurting,” Lucas says with a shrug, “I guess we get huggy when that happens.” Farkle laughs softly, he pulls his head from Lucas’ shoulder and wipes his face on the back of his arm with a sniffle.

“I got tears and snot on you,” Farkle points out, uselessly wiping at the wet spot on Lucas’ shoulder with the sleeve of his long sleeve shirt. Lucas chuckles at the attempt.

“Don’t worry about it,” Lucas assures him, “I helped birth a cow this summer, so I’ve been covered in way grosser things.”

“I just don’t understand why I am feeling this way,” Farkle confesses.

“You thought this would help your parents become happier people and maybe you’ll be right, but this is still a life changing event,” Lucas tells him gently, “no one wants to see their parents break up, especially when they’re as great a pair as yours.” Farkle stares at Lucas for a few long seconds before groaning and roughly shoving his face against Lucas’ shoulder.

“You really are tooth achingly sweet,” he grumbles. Lucas laughs at Farkle’s antics.

“Well if it gets a smile out of you, it can’t be all bad,” Lucas decides.

Farkle laughs.

**Author's Note:**

> There you have it! I hope you enjoyed it. This fanfiction was unintentionally very personal. 
> 
> I've dealt with a lot of loneliness and have had divorced parents for a long time. I wanted to make it totally clear that there was talk of divorce in case it made anyone uncomfortable but more than anything I hope nobody gets upset at the particular view that was taken on divorce (One I seriously doubt Disney would ever try). My parents divorced when I was 9 and although I no longer talk to my father, I genuinely believe my life would have been much worse if not for it. So, even though Disney tries to brush over the Minkuses interactions, I felt this was an interesting way to identify with Farkle and get out my own thoughts on the subject.
> 
> So, yeah. Please comment, fave, rec, and all that good stuff! 
> 
> Thank you and have a good day :D


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